Chef Simone has been feeding Birmingham for years through her food trucks or catering services, but now she finally has a place to call her own, with the opening of their first brick-and-mortar location in Center Point, AL. We were lucky to have been invited to experience the new dine-in experience, Simone’s Kitchen, and chat with the Chef Simone.

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Chef Whitney Simone, owner and head chef of Simone’s Kitchen ATL and Simone’s Kitchen and Cocktails

Why did you start Simone’s Kitchen and what was the journey like building it?

I never had intentions of doing this at all. I was in corporate America, so I really was cooking at a hobby level. After years of being in corporate America, my best friend got tired of me complaining about it all the time, and she suggested that maybe I should cook and try to do that full-time. I had never really thought about it before, you know, ya’know catering, and I thought, sure, why not? I decided to start catering, and it really started doing well, and that’s how Simone’s Kitchen ATL was born. [Then] it was not a dream of mine, and it was definitely not planned.

After seeing success with catering Chef Simone, like many other “food-preneurs,” took a chance and purchased her first food truck to make her meals more accessible to the Birmingham Community and begin to make Simone’s Kitchen a foodie favorite. The success of her truck took her across Alabama and the southeast earning her fans and planing the seed for her next big step with Simones Kitchen.

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What has the transition been like to owning your own brick-and-mortar space?

Well, with catering and the food truck, I reach a totally different demographic of people. The catering side for me was more corporate customers, then with the food truck, I can go straight to customers, so some days we may be in neighborhoods, parks, or events. Now, with the brick-and-mortar space, we are serving the community we are in. So, they each have a different audience and different menus, and with the restaurant, I can be a little more creative with what I can serve.

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What do you want people to take away from Simone’s Kitchen and Cocktails?

So I want my customers to to feel like they are in their living room when they are here. I want everyone to come in and get comfortable, and so far, based on the feedback, they really do feel like they are cousins when they walk in, and we love that. So, whether that’s brunch, soul food Sunday, or just a quick lunch on their lunch break. We want all walks of to walk in and feel comfortable in Simone’s Kitchen and Cocktails.